Manifesto - A High Peak for the Future - It is your Choice
High Peak Liberal Democrats believe that your council should deliver the services that you as residents of High Peak want.
We remain committed to:-
- Having a low and sustainable Council Tax, with any annual increase limited to no higher than the level of inflation:
- That the services the council provides reflect your priorities:
- That where we make cuts in our budget, frontline services will be protected;
- That you will have easy access to and up to date information on Council services;
- That you should know clearly what the council does;
- That the council retains prudent levels of reserves and use any balances for investment safely;
- And that fees and charges are at a level consistent with these aims.
- Working with you to help make High Peak a better place for residents and visitors now and for future generations.
Town Centres
We need to ensure that our town centres provide the services that residents and visitors need. But we need to be aware that we are providing for future generations not living in the 20th Century. Shopping trends have changed. Whilst greater car use has led to emergence of numerous supermarkets many rely on public transport and small community shopping areas.
We would resist within planning laws the further development of supermarkets to the detriment of our town and village centres.
We would seek the retention of local post offices and banks which help to provide employment.
Employment
Many people are forced to, or choose to, travel outside the High Peak for employment.
We need to ensure that adequate land remains available for employment. We need to attract new higher paid jobs and businesses into the High Peak.
Fast access to the internet, reliable service provision, improved public transport and road networks are essential.
Partnerships
Liberal Democrats are committed to developing partnership working. Our first priority is to ensure that we deliver the services that you tell us you want. With the severe financial problems councils face it makes sense to share costs in management whilst delivering local services. We are not afraid of extending this to other councils, organisations and groups if it is of benefit to the High Peak.
We have already seen "Friend's" groups successfully applying for money to improve facilities which would not have been open to the council to pursue. We want to work with sports groups to help provide additional facilities and increased usage.
We need to encourage joint use of council premises, such as the library moving into the centre of Buxton and Glossop, to help reduce the cost of retaining important but not always the most suitable of buildings.
We will also ensure that the council has adequate management of projects undertaken by the council, so that the progress of projects can be closely monitored and delivered on time.
Housing
High Peak remains a highly desirable place to live. But for many local people the idea of having a home in the area is totally unachievable. There is a clear need for the creation of more affordable housing for local people. The number of new properties delivered over the last 4 years has been utterly inadequate. We would ensure that we have in place robust policies and new initiatives to deliver increased numbers of affordable units.
However, building new houses is not that simple. There are many Brownfield sites that could be developed and we would oppose the use of Greenfield sites whilst these are still available.
Any new development should be built to high energy efficient standards and with the necessary infrastructure in place to cope with the extra demands on such things as schools and water provision.
Environment
Protecting the environment of the High Peak is a major challenge for the council. Whether it is the threat of losing Greenfields to housing, cleaning up dirty streets or energy generation, we believe High Peak residents have an important part to play in safeguarding our environment.
We will retain the current weekly collection of waste from households. We will investigate the financial cost in extending the green box to include plastics and try to rectify the opportunity missed by the council when starting its waste contract.
We will seek to encourage households and other groups in the generation of "green" power.
We will ensure that our website, town and parish councils have information on street cleaning, so that residents know when and where they can expect the clean team, road sweepers and gulley cleaning to be taking place.
We will reduce carbon emissions from council premises and vehicles.
Printed, published and promoted on behalf of High Peak Liberal Democrats and candidates by David Lomax, all at Spire House Bings Rd Whaley Bridge High Peak SK23 7ND.
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